Venomous Spider spreading throughout UK

[Dave]

This has been making the news over the last 24 hours.

A spider from the same family as the black widow, the false widow is spreading throughout the UK.........

I'd never heard of it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arly-loses-leg-bite-UKs-poisonous-spider.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24397065

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/uk-shudders-venomous-spider-creeps-across-britain-8C11374884

http://www.express.co.uk/scotland/435607/Venomous-spider-creeps-north-of-the-Border

A surge in sightings of Britain’s most dangerous spider, the false widow, has been causing concern in London and Essex.

Now the venomous arachnids have turned up at a landfill site in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.

Technician Tommy Bell spotted 10 to 15 of the creatures lurking in ducts at the town’s CLP Envirogas plant.

Mr Bell, 30, an amateur naturalist, was shocked because he thought they were black widows.

 

[Chiseller]

Do they taste like pork?

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[Dave]

Do they taste like pork?

Mmmmmmmm. Im guessin probably not.

Apparently they like to make nests in long beards though.

 

[Emdiesse]

I'm just waiting for Harvestman to come along and explain just how much the media are blowing this one out of proportion.

In the meantime, gather up your miniature pitchforks and torches it's time these poor spiders are persecuted!

In the meantime, apparently their bite is comparable to a bee or a wasp (http://wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php5?title=False_Widow_Spiders)
and they have claimed no lives, I wonder how many lives we have revoked of theirs on the other hand...

Apparently also they are most likely to attack if provoked or accidentally squashed and are more likely to simply run away or if you poke your fingers in their web...

I suppose I'll put the pitchfork and torch away then

 

[Gaudette]

We've had them around our way for years I've never seen one or heard of anyone being bitten by one. Interesting they may be expanding north.


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[Wayland]

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We've also got deadly scorpions too...

 

[Chiseller]

Mmmmmmmm. Im guessin probably not.

Apparently they like to make nests in long beards though.

I'll not be going hungry then

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[Harvestman]

"Venomous spider" <sigh>

ALL spiders (apart from those in the family Uloboridae which have evolved to do without their venom glands) are venomous.

Notice the language. Found "lurking in ducts". I despair of this sort of hyperbole.

No, I wouldn't want to be bitten by one. It would hurt, and that would be unpleasant. But the chances of being bitten are miniscule, and the chances of a bite doing me any sort of serious harm are extremely remote.

 

[Harvestman]

On the other hand, look at that picture posted above. Isn't she pretty?

 

[santaman2000]

Then I suppose the more pertinent question is how much detriment are they to the native environment?

 

[demographic]

Bleedin immigrants, come in here stealing our hardworking spiders jobs, eating our insects.

Next thing they'll be on benefits, living in our council houses, sending thousands of their kids to our schools that will have to take on teachers that can understand their spider language.
I'm going to write to my MP about it and maybe vote UKIP next time.

 

[Harvestman]

Then I suppose the more pertinent question is how much detriment are they to the native environment?

To be honest, the only creature in the ecosystem that they seem to have disturbed is Homo sapiens.

Actually, with climate change they are all sort of species of plants and invertebrates spreading across the UK from the south-east of England. This is a time of change.

 

[Harvestman]

Bleedin immigrants, come in here stealing our hardworking spiders jobs, eating our insects.

Funniest comment of the day

 

[santaman2000]

To be honest, the only creature in the ecosystem that they seem to have disturbed is Homo sapiens.

Actually, with climate change they are all sort of species of plants and invertebrates spreading across the UK from the south-east of England. This is a time of change.

Not to big a deal then. That's good news. I wish our invasives were that benign.

 

[Wayland]

Bleedin immigrants, come in here stealing our hardworking spiders jobs, eating our insects.

Next thing they'll be on benefits, living in our council houses, sending thousands of their kids to our schools that will have to take on teachers that can understand their spider language.
I'm going to write to my MP about it and maybe vote UKIP next time.

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[andyn]

Found a few in the garage today whilst cleaning out a stack of logs. Cute little beasties they are...

 

[spiritwalker]

took the media a while to catch on though they have been i the uk since the 1870's apparently...

 

[Pterodaktyl]

We have dozens of these in the garden, pretty much anywhere there is a nice gap between two pieces of wood. We also have another one of the introduced species that is supposed to be able to give a painful bite, the Tube Web Spider (Segestria florentina):

 

[Harvestman]

S. florentina isn't really introduced. It has a global distribution, but has been in the UK for as far back as spider recording goes. Big, fearsome looking beasts, and capable of giving a bite, although I know of no records of them having actually bitten a human. They are pretty timid.

 

[Emdiesse]

Found a few in the garage today whilst cleaning out a stack of logs. Cute little beasties they are...

Interesting to hear . I'm in Hampshire too so I'll have to start keeping an eye out for the little beasties and have my camera at the ready!

I found some of the articles comical as well in that these little spiders 'raced towards' and 'leapt' at their victims.

Then they talk of the spiders (all sorts of wildlife) as if they are making little boats and little planes and migrating across countries, continents of their own accord.

Then I find the rest of them depressive: 'every spider I see now I kill'.